Today we’d like to introduce you to Ali Salomi.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I first started in business in the year 2000, when I was 18 years old. I started an online business which was essentially a chat forum for middle school and high school students. This business net great profits, however, the word PROFIT was extremely relative at the time.
I came from a working class family in which my father had a job and my mother was a stay at home mom. We didn’t have much money growing up and I was always told to make sure I get an education so that I don’t turn out like my family and that I would have a better job and future. For me, school didn’t come easy and I didn’t enjoy it. I loved business and I loved reading books about business. So when I started my first business at 18 and I started making money, I felt like I was smarter than my professors at CSUN (which was obviously not true). I stopped going to a lot of my classes and focused on business. After a few months, I took the money I made and wanted to start a bigger business.
I took everything I had saved up and started an online dating site. It took 6 months to launch the business and after a year I lost everything. I had stopped going to a lot of my classes and had failed them. It was a hard time in my life as it was the first experience in a failed business.
I then got with 3 other partners who brought different strengths to the table and we started a staffing agency. We came up with cutting edge and innovative ways to market and obtain clients. We grew the business so much in a short period of time, we were approached by a public company and sold our business for a hefty profit.
My failed business was so fresh in my head that the profit I made from the staffing agency I held onto like I didn’t have it. I knew I wanted to start another business but I didn’t know what that business was going to be. So the next week after we sold the business I started applying for jobs in which I wanted to strengthen my skills in. I thought to myself that the best way to learn is by experiencing it and what better way to learn than to have a company pay for it! I got a part time job in Sales and Marketing at an infomercial company.
I also wanted a “fun” job at night to balance myself. So I also got a job as a valet driver for private parties at celebrity homes.
I learned a lot from my morning Sales and Marketing job. After working there for only 6 months, I met someone there who was left to get a Direct Sales (door to door sales) job. I thought to myself that if I could master door to door sales, I could sell anything. I decided to quit and follow suit. After working for a few months, I had become a Team Leader in the company. Since I was an independent contractor, I hired my own people and paid my own people. After a year of working, I had already hired over 40 people who were working for me. After I had the leverage I needed, I quit the job and took my 40 employees and started my own sales and marketing company. I am still the CEO of Red Label Enterprises and we now have over 120 employees. Our clients are all medium sized companies to fortune 500 companies.
During the time that I was building the marketing company I was still working in the evening as a valet driver and I had also started marketing consulting. I had created a business system that I would teach and duplicate with each client and it didn’t matter the industry they were in. At my valet job, there was a manager that I always chatted about business and he had started a business in which he sold light fixture diffusers (lenses) door to door, business to business. He kept asking me to partner up with him but I really didn’t have the time.
After months of us talking, I finally decided to quit the valet job and partner up with him. We took the business Skypanels from going door to door, business to business to strictly online. Because of the health benefits from this product, we partnered up with many charities and organizations (especially ones that helped children). We went from a small business that operated from a storage unit, to becoming the largest decorative light fixture manufacturer. We have multiple warehouses (bi-coastal), latest technology in printing, latest technology in manufacturing and resellers throughout the world,
Today, I am the CEO of Red Label Enterprises, co-founder of Skypanels, co-founder of TV Brands Direct and CEO of Nix Branding. I LOVE my life and I love business today as much as I did when I was 18 years old.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has not been a smooth road. In business, there are a lot of ups and downs but one thing you have to remember is that you only need one successful and profitable business. If you go through 100 businesses and only one of them succeeds, you are still a success!
Skypanels – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Skypanels are fluorescent light diffusers designed to reduce harsh glare emanating from sterile existing fluorescent lighting. They are plain images to nature images to images of beautiful skies that help to create a more relaxed, soothing atmosphere.
Skypanels are primarily used in hospitals, medical offices, schools, movie sets, hotels and casinos, restaurants, military bases, and residential homes.
We are most proud of how many people we are able to help out with our product. We love our product and believe in our product and believe everyone should have it. People who can’t afford our product our able to submit for a donation request in which we try to help as many of them as possible.
What sets us apart is that we have been in business longer than other companies, we are still innovating and growing and we work with many organizations and charities as possible. We are truly here to make a change.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I believe success = growth. If you are not growing you are dead as a business.
Growth = Progress. As long as you are progressing you are growing and growth = success. That is all I strive for on a daily basis, just making sure I am growing more than the day before. For example, when someone wants to lose weight and they keep telling themselves that they want to lose 40 pounds, it will most likely never happen. But if they tell themselves that they want to lose 1 pound a week and they see that progress, they will stick to it because they are progressing and growing and in return they are successful at their goal.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.skypanels.com
- Phone: 888-475-9726
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